NMJC Men’s T&F Wins 2023 NJCAA Outdoor Championship
The New Mexico Junior College men's track and field team captured a share of the 2023 NJCAA DI Men's Outdoor Championships. The T-Birds were Co-Champions with South Plains Saturday evening in Hobbs, NM after both schools finished with 100 points.
This is NMJC's first men's outdoor title since 1979.
The Thunderbirds finished with two individual national champions, seven individual All-Americans, and one relay All-American squads on the final day.
The T-Birds swept the indoor and outdoor championships for the first time in program history with wins by both the men's and women's track and field teams.
"We are very pleased with this year's performances, it was a true team effort," NMJC track and field head coach Keith Blackwill said. "For this to be possible it took a lot of work and dedication from our athletes."
Freshman sprinter Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu set a new school record in the 100m dash with his 10.05 national-champion winning performance. Markarawu defeated Butler's Nazzio John by .06 seconds.
"Carlie had a well-executed race, he stayed relaxed and ran well," Blackwill said. "He is now the "Fastest man in junior college" having won both the 60m indoor and now the 100m outdoor."
Sophomore Kelsey Daniel was the triple jump national champion with a leap of 16.09m on Saturday afternoon. The jump was .52m further than his nearest competitor in Roman Kuleshov of Iowa Central. Daniel has now won the indoor and outdoor triple jump at nationals this season.
"It is always nice when you hit a big jump on the first attempt like he did," Blackwill said. "After that, he could relax and let them press to try and beat him."
The men's 4x100m relay squad of Aymane El Haddaoui, Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu, Khybah Dawson, and Kimarlie Stewart finished runner-up with a time of 39.70. The relay time by the T-Birds edged third place South Plains by .06 seconds.
Evans Pololet came in fourth place in the 1500m with a time of 3:48.23. The finish was .02 seconds behind third place's Brian Kiptoo of Northwest Kansas.
Freshman sprinter Aymane El Haddaoui ran his personal-best 45.59 to finish in third place in the 400m. Haddaoui is now No. 2 all-time at NMJC for the 400m race.
Che Saunders was an All-American in the 110mH after crossing the line in 14.42 to finish in eighth place.
Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu came in third place in the 200m with a time of 20.47, which was .27 seconds behind Western Texas' James Dadzie. Makarawu set an NMJC school record in the prelims on Friday with his blazing 19.98 time in the 200m race.
Kimarlie Stewart also earned All-American status in the 200m with his 20.93 seventh-place finish.
Tomas Vega was the runner-up in the 5000m after posting a school record 14:37.12 in the race. Colby's Sanele Masondo won the race by 9.32 seconds over Vega. German Vega came in seventh place with a 14:51.64 in the 5000m. Vega was the only individual three-time All-American for the T-Birds that was not a part of a relay squad.
The performances by the Vega brothers gave the Thunderbirds a 100-90 lead over South Plains College as they entered the final race.
The T-Birds were battered headed into the 4x4 with indoor 400m national champion Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa out with an injury he suffered earlier in the day. Makarawu was moved to the anchor leg in the race, but he was battling an injury himself. The 100m dash national champion willed himself to complete the race in 3:11.98.
The finish was not enough to insert the T-Birds into the Top 8 to the team points. South Plains gained 10 points with the 4x400m win and tied the T-Birds for the second consecutive national meet at 100 points for each team. NMJC and South Plains would share the men's title once again.
"This team truly wanted to be national champions," Blackwill said. "It began in August with the work that they put in. "From Day 1, they put in the extra effort and paid attention to everything the coaches were doing."
The T-Birds encountered unforeseen injuries in the process of winning the championship, however that did not stop them from accomplishing the end goal of winning another national championship.
"They all had the same goal, to be national champions," Blackwill said. "If one person was struggling the others would step up."
Blackwill said that recruiting is never going to be easy but winning does help alleviate the pitch to incoming athletes.
"I am not sure that it ever gets easier to recruit," Blackwill said. "But these wins will give us more tools to use during recruiting."
The Thunderbirds end the track and field season with four national championships split between the men and women.
The men had six individual national champions, 16 All-Americans, and one All-American relay team at the 2023 NJCAA DI Men's T&F Indoor Championships.
The T-Birds finished with two national champions, 15 individual All-Americans, and one relay All-American squad at the 2023 NJCAA DI Men's T&F Outdoor Championships.
The women had three individual national champions, 18 All-Americans, one relay All-American squad, and one national champion relay team at the 2023 NJCAA DI Women's T&F Indoor Championships.
NMJC produced three national champions, 19 individual All-Americans, and three relay All-American squads at the 2023 NJCAA DI Women's T&F Outdoor Championships.
